Jesse Floyd
Belmont is home to scientists, writers, musicians, professors, and a host of other successful professionals.
It’s also home to at least one professional Ironman competitor: Alice Alberts, who will be heading to France in September to compete for the world title. Right now, she’s ranked third in the world.
“I’ve been competing in something called the Ironman Pro Series, which is a really awesome series that Ironman has put together to bring together all the top athletes to compete against each other,” Alberts said.
Like a lot of talented people, Alberts is remarkably blithe about her achievements. Originally from New Hampshire, she was a multi-sport athlete in high school, competing in everything except swimming, biking and running.
She attended Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., where she played lacrosse. From there, she went to New Haven, Conn. and Yale University for a master’s degree in nursing, and eventually, Boston Medical Center, where she worked for four years as a nurse practitioner.
“I was running a lot. I’d gotten into marathon running when I was at Yale just because I was stressed and needed a release of that stress,” she said. “And I found that running helped with that. So did a bunch of marathons during that time.”
In Boston, she met her husband in a running club. When COVID shut the world down, they took to two wheels, doing a lot of bike riding together.
“We really, really loved it and decided, ‘Why not sign up for an Ironman?’” she said.
For the unfamiliar, an Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run. There is a shorter version, called a 70.3, or half Ironman, in which the distances are halved.
That first Ironman in 2021 was in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Alberts won the amateur division and was 100% hooked from the start.
“I truly just fell in love with the sport throughout the training and the racing and just knew it was something I wanted to keep doing, that concept of endurance sports. It’s so physical and mental, and I really loved it,” she said.
Alberts ended up winning a pair of amateur triathlons, finished third in the world and decided to turn pro.
“It just makes every race so much more competitive,” she said. “The prize purses are bigger and there’s a big year-end bonus and whatnot. I’m competing in that. I just raced Lake Placid two weeks ago and came in third.”
So far in 2024, she’s raced two full Ironmans, finishing third in Lake Placid, N.Y. and fifth at a race in Texas. She’s raced a pair of 70.3s as well, finishing sixth in Chattanooga, Tenn., and 10th at Mt. Treblant in Quebec.
August will be a break from racing, then to Nice, France for the world championships.
She’s a full-time athlete now. She has clients she coaches, sponsorships, and whatever winnings she garners from races.
“When I left my job, we were aware of the fact that maybe this would only be a one to two year thing, depending on how it goes. But we’ve been fortunate enough that it’s gone better than … I expected it to,” she said.
While she’s fairly new to Ironman competition, Alberts, 32, has her eyes on a fairly long career. She races three to four times a year, which she views as a sustainable pace. She pointed out some elite women are in the mid- to late-30s.
“Women tend to peak in endurance sports actually in their mid to late 30s. A lot of the races I’ve been in this year, if you look at the top 10 women, the average age is like 36 to 38. Coming into it late, I honestly think it almost has its benefit in that I’m not burned out and I really do find joy and really love what I’m doing, ” she said.
Alberts and her husband moved to Belmont in May. He still does the occasional race, but for him, it’s more about staying healthy and happy, Alberts said.
Alberts’ mode of stress release has evolved into a career. But, she said, she finds such joy in the hard work of preparing to race 140-plus miles, and that endurance sports continue to serve as her stress release.
“My husband always says, ‘A happy Alice is a fast Alice,’ she said. “So I race better when I’m enjoying what I’m doing because it’s a motivator in itself. So it’s my job, but I still adore it.”